As I let the desert heat pull all the ooompf (what little there is) out of me, I speculate on the premise of Native American zombies.
Why can’t we have a fine Native American zombie film? George Romero demonstrated exactly what could be done by politicizing an allegorical cinematic form. He gave us true horror: a doomsday warning of imminent culture-plaguing disaster disguised as riveting entertainment, and for that many of us are undyingly grateful.
Isn’t there enough tragedy in the Native American experience to provide amazingly fertile territory for an equally groundbreaking work? I’d write it myself if I were a bit more rooted in the Native experience and if I weren’t so busy with my current dead love: zombie poetics.
I’m hoping Sherman Alexie will take it on. If he doesn’t, I may have to go after him.
—Erin Orison, DEAD LOVE/the Daily Slice
Zombie art courtesy of Bart Frescura, copyright Bart Frescura